ብሪቱ Board Chairman:

BIRRITU Gebreyesus Gunte

Birritu No.114 Members:

Alemayehu Kebede
Solomon Desta
Birritu is a quarterly
Temesgen Zeleke
magazine published by Dereje Asegedew
The National Bank of Ethiopia.

It presents in-depth articles, researches

and news on banking, insurance &

microfinance. Editor-in-Chief
Dereje Asegedew

Address:

Birritu Editorial Office Secretarial & Distribution

P.O.Box 5550 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Service:
Tel. +251 11553 00 40

+251 11 517 54 76
Tsegereda Gebreyohannes
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Birritu@ethionet.et

1
 BIRRITU No 114

ማውጫ (Table of Contents) ገጽ (Pages)

1. የአዘጋጆች ማስታወሻ (Note from Editors) ------------------------------------------ 3

2. ዜና እና መረጃ (News and Information) -------------------------------------------4

3. ጥናታዊ ጽሑፎች (Research Articles)

 Seven Questions on Monetary Transmission

in Low-income Countries ----------------------------------------------- 6

4. አስተማሪና መረጃ ሰጪ ጽሑፎች (Educational and Informative Articles)

 Update on Ethiopia’s Macroeconomic

and Financial Sector Development ------------------------------------ 9

 The year 2012 ---------------------------------------------------------- 16

 A Thing to Learn (UK Bank Boss Urges Bankers

to Learn from Olympic Athletes) -------------------------------------- 24

5. የመዝናኛ ክፍል (Miscellany section)

 የታክሲ ላይ ጥቅሶች ---------------------------------------------------------- 25

 Mark Twain Quotes ---------------------------------------------------- 29

OPPINIONS EXPRESSED IN ARTICLES DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT

2
THE POLICIES AND STANDS OF THE NATIONAL BANK OF ETHIOPIA
for resources, please visit the NBE’s official website: www.nbe.gov.et
Editors’ Note

Esteemed readers, hear we are with the 114th issue of Birritu. In this issue of
Birritu we have the usual columns with various topics of Interest.

 Three news items

• H.E Ato Teklewold Atnafu. Governor of NBE presented the
Bank’s 2012/13 plan to the parliament
• NBE awarded a core banking solution project to an Indian Fi-
nancial Technology Firm
• Briefing held on Ethiopian check standardization project
 One research Paper:
• Seven questions on monetary transmission in low-income coun-
tries
 Three educational and informative items
• Update on Ethiopia’s macroeconomic and financial sector
development.
• The year 2012
• A Thing to Learn (UK Bank Boss Urges Bankers
to Learn from Olympic Athletes)
 Two items in the miscellany section
• የታክሲ ላይ ጥቅሶች
• Mark Twain Quotes
We hope that you will enjoy this issue of Birritu and find the items included
informative. As your feedbacks and comments are crucial inputs, keep for-
warding your comments and suggestions.
For your feedbacks, use the following:

3
Birritu Editorial Office
Tel. +251 115 17 54 76
+251 115 53 00 40
P.O.Box 5550
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
 BIRRITU No 114
BIRRITU NEWS
H.E The Governor Presented the Bank’s
2012/13 Plan to the Parliament
H.E Ato Teklewold Atnafu, Governor
of the NBE presented the Bank’s
2012/13 annual work plan to
the Budget and Finance Standing
Committee of the House of Peoples’
Representatives on 30th October
2012. The preparation of the
2012/13 plan among other things
took into consideration the country’s
five year Growth and Transformation
Plan (GTP).
In his presentation, the Governor
mentioned that special emphasis
will be given and most of the Bank’s
efforts will be geared towards
maintaining price and exchange rate
stability, bringing inflation down to a
4 single digit and achieving high and
sustained economic growth.
When responding to one of the
questions raised by the Standing
Committee, the Governor said that
due to efforts being exerted,
it has been possible to
reduce the annual inflation
to 19 percent at the end of
September 2012 from 40
percent last year. However,
due to imported inflation
and especially due to
increasing fuel prices in
the international market,
bringing down inflation to
single digit was not possible.
He remarked that the
Bank will continue to use
all the available monetary
instruments along with fiscal
and administrative measures
to control inflationary
pressure. Besides, high growth in the country’s
GDP is expected to contribute a lot in maintaining
price stability in 2012/13.
NBE Awarded a Core Banking
Solution Project to an Indian
Financial Technology Firm
NBE has awarded a core banking solution
project to Polaris Financial Technology Limited,
an Indian financial technology firm in a signing
ceremony held on October 5, 2012 at the Head
Office of NBE. It has been disclosed that the
project costs $3.4 million and is scheduled to be
completed within nine months.
The contract was signed by Ato Yemane Yosef,
Vice Governor of Corporate Services at the
NBE and Mr. K. Srinivasen representative of the
company in the presence of First Secretary of the
Indian Embassy and representatives from Ernst

&Young, Polaris and Information Newtwork
Security Agency(INSA).
As disclosed by NBE, the old system could not
completely interface with the national payment
system (NPS) and had trouble in managing the
currency reserves, government accounts and
processing the new bank reporting system. The
new system to be installed by Polaris called,
Intellect, is found to be a proper solution.
The new solution acquired by the NBE, besides
interfacing with the national payment system will
assist the management of the country’s foreign
currency reserves, gold reserves, payment and
settlement of government accounts and issuance
of currency. The new system will also interface
with the bank’s procurement, human resource
and swift transaction systems.
As indicated during the signing ceremony,
the agreement consists of service packages.
Accordingly, Polaris is expected to provide three
year service free of charge and additional four
years with payment.
Briefing Held on
Ethiopian Check
Standardization Project
Consultants from Bankable Frontier
Association (BFA) briefed delegates
from commercial banks and the NBE
on Ethiopian check standardization
project being undertaken by the NBE
with technical assistance from the
World Bank.
On the briefing session held on
October 19/2012, the consultants
explained the standards of check
currently in operation in the country
and the much improved standards the
project sought to introduce at the end
of the project period. They expressed
their strong conviction that a much
improved check standard will become
part of the modern payments system in
Ethiopia within a short period of time.
According to BFA consultants,
among the outcomes of the project,
introducing check imaging systems
or check truncation solution enables
faster yet more cost effective payment
processing with enhanced security
system and it is expected to be a major
leap in the country’s check transaction
process.
5
 BIRRITU No 114
IMF Research Bulletin
Seven Questions on Monetary
Transmission in Low- income Countries
(By Prachi Mishra and Peter Montiel1
There are strong a priori reasons
for believing that the monetary
transmission mechanism in
low-income countries (LICs) is
fundamentally different from that in
economies with more sophisticated
financial systems. A review of the
existing literature also suggests
little confidence in the strength of
monetary transmission in low-income
countries. It is important to distinguish
between the “facts on the ground”
and “methodological deficiencies”
explanations for the absence of
evidence for strong monetary
transmission. There is evidence
that “facts on the ground” are an
important part of the story. If this
conjecture is correct, the stabilization
challenge in developing countries
is acute indeed, and identifying the
means of enhancing the effectiveness
of monetary policy in such countries
is an important challenge. This piece
addresses the main questions in the
literature on the monetary transmission
mechanisms in low-income countries.
Question 1: What are the assumptions
underlying the discussion of monetary
transmission in advanced countries?
As argued in Mishra, Montiel, and
6
Spilimbergo (2012), the conventional
1 Peter Montiel is a professor at Williams
college
description of monetary transmission relies
on effective arbitrage along several margins:
between different domestic short-term securities,
between domestic short term and long-
term securities, between long-term securities
and equities, between domestic and foreign
securities, and between domestic financial
and real assets. A discussion on monetary
transmission is therefore clearly intended to
apply to an economy with a highly developed
and competitive financial system.
As such, it implicitly assumes the following
institutional setup, which is typically taken for
granted in discussions of monetary transmission
in advanced countries:
1. A strong institutional environment, so
that loan contracts are protected and
financial intermediation is conducted
through formal financial markets.
2. An independent central bank.
3. A well-functioning and highly liquid
interbank market for reserves.
4. A well-functioning and highly liquid
secondary market for government
securities with a broad range of
maturities.
5. Well-functioning and highly liquid
markets for equities and real estate.
6. A high degree of international capital
mobility.
7. A floating exchange rate.
Question 2: Do we expect monetary transmission
in a low-income country context to be different
from what we are familiar with in industrial
countries?
Yes. There are strong a priori reasons for
believing that the monetary transmission
mechanism in low-income countries (LICs) is
fundamentally different from that in economies
with more sophisticated financial systems. First,
the complete absence or poor development
of domestic securities markets suggests that
both the short-run and long-run interest rate
channels should be weak. Second, small and
illiquid markets for assets such as equities and
real estate would tend to weaken the asset
channel. Third, in countries that are imperfectly
integrated with international financial markets
and tend to maintain relatively fixed exchange
rates, the exchange rate channel would tend to
be completely absent, or relatively weak.
Question 3: Which channel of monetary
transmission, if any, is likely to be at play in low-
income countries?
In general, the financial structure of low-
income countries should lead us to expect the
interest rate, asset, and exchange rate channels
to be weak or non existent in such countries.
By a process of elimination, the bank lending
channel remains the most viable general mode
for monetary transmission in LICs.
Question 4: What conditions would determine
the strength of the bank-lending channels? Are
these conditions likely to hold in LICs?
The relevant properties of the bank lending
channel concern two links in the causal chain
from monetary policy actions to aggregate
demand: that between monetary policy actions
and the availability and cost of bank credit,
and that between the availability and cost of
bank credit and aggregate demand. When the
formal financial sector is small, as is true in
the vast majority of low-income countries, the
second of these links is likely to be weak. But
the link between monetary policy actions and
the availability and cost of bank credit
may be weak as well. Specifically, the
literature suggests that bank-lending
channels may be undermined by two
factors:
(i) if the banking industry is
noncompetitive, changes in banks’
costs of funds may be reflected in
bank profit margins, rather than in the
supply of bank lending.
(ii) If a poor institutional environment
increases the cost of bank lending,
banks may conduct lending activity in
a manner that weakens the effects of
monetary policy actions on the supply
of loans.
Question 5: Is there any cross-
country evidence on the strength and
reliability of the bank-lending channel
in LICs?
Mishra, Montiel, and Spilimbergo
(2012) examine broad cross-country
differences in the links between
central bank policy actions and
bank lending rates by computing
some simple correlations among
the relevant financial variables in
advanced, emerging, and low-
income economies. They focus on
the association between central bank
policy rates and money market rates,
as well as that between money market
rates and bank lending rates. In doing
so, they seek to unearth suggestive
empirical regularities, rather than to
identify specific causal relationships.
They find a much weaker link between
the policy instrument and market
rates in LICs than for advanced and
emerging economies, both in the
short and in the long run. The short-
term partial correlation between 7
money market rates and lending rates
is also significantly weaker among
LICs than among either advanced
or emerging economies, and while
differences in long-term effects are
 BIRRITU No 114
not as pronounced, they remain
weaker in low-income countries.
Most importantly, changes in money
market rates explain a much smaller
proportion of the variance in lending
rates in low-income countries than
in either advanced or emerging
economies.
Question 6: What does the country-
specific evidence on monetary
transmission in LICs suggest?
There is indeed a large VAR-based
empirical literature examining the
effects of monetary policy innovations
(as measured through a variety of
monetary policy variables including,
but not limited to, policy interest rates)
on aggregate demand (as indicated
by the behavior of output and/or
prices) in a large number of individual
LICs. This literature does not restrict
the specific channels through which
monetary policy may affect aggregate
demand. Mishra and Montiel (2012)
conclude that it is very hard to come
away from their review of the evidence
with much confidence in the strength
of monetary transmission in low-
income countries. They fail to uncover
any instances in which more than
one careful study confirmed results
for the effects of monetary shocks on
aggregate demand that are similar
to the consensus effects in the United
States or other advanced countries.
The question is how to interpret this
state of affairs. As suggested by Egert
and Macdonald (2009) (for the case
of transition economies in Central
and Eastern Europe),
it is likely to reflect some combination
8 of the “facts on the ground” and
shortcomings in the empirical methods that
have been applied to this issue.
We suspect, however, that “facts on the ground”
may indeed be an important part of the story. The
failure of a wide range of empirical approaches
to yield consistent and convincing evidence of
effective monetary transmission in low-income
countries, and that the strongest evidence for
effective monetary transmission has arisen for
relatively prosperous and more institutionally-
developed countries such as some Central
and Eastern European transition economies (at
least in the later stages of their transition) and
countries such as Morocco and Tunisia, make
us doubt whether methodological shortcomings
are the whole story.
Question 7: So, what are the policy implications?
We interpret the evidence in Mishra, Montiel,
and Spilimbergo (2012), as well as that of the
broader VAR based literature, as creating a strong
presumption that in the financial environment
that tends to characterize many LICs, monetary
policy is likely to have both weak and unreliable
effects on aggregate demand. If this is true, the
stabilization challenge in developing countries
is acute indeed, and identifying the means of
enhancing the effectiveness of monetary policy
in such countries is an important challenge.
When domestic monetary policy is weak and
unreliable activist policy is less desirable, and the
adoption of policy regimes that raise the stakes
associated with attaining publicly- announced
monetary objectives should be postponed or
their design should be modified to take the
uncertainty about monetary policy effects into
account. In addition, weak and unreliable
monetary transmission diminishes arguments
for floating exchange rates as well as for capital
account restrictions under fixed exchange rates.
 Update On Ethiopia’s Macroeconomic and
Financial Sector Development
World Economic Growth and
Prospects
According to the World Economic Outlook
(October 2012) the recovery continues, but it
has weakened. Relative to April 2012 World
economic forecasts, forecasts for 2013 growth
have been revised from 2.0 percent down to
1.5 percent for advanced economies, and from
6.0 percent down to 5.6 percent for emerging
market and developing economies. The forces
behind this slow growth prospect are fiscal
consolidation and a still-weak financial system
in advanced economies.
The accommodative monetary policy of most
central banks to maintain very low policy rates
and a special favor aimed at decreasing rates
in particular markets and helping particular
categories of borrowers in these countries is
expected to pull up growth. A general feeling of
uncertainty; however seems to be at work.
Low growth and uncertainty in advanced
economies are affecting emerging market and
developing economies, through both trade
and financial channels, adding to homegrown
weaknesses.
According to IMF regional outlook for Sub-
Saharan Africa (October 2012) Economic
conditions in sub-Saharan Africa have remained
generally robust against the backdrop of a
sluggish global economy. Most low-income
countries continue to grow. The
near-term outlook for sub-Saharan
African remains broadly positive, and
growth is projected at 51/4 percent a
year in 2012-13. Strong domestic
demand, including from investment,
is exacted to support growth in
many low-income countries, while
a weak external environment will be
a drag on growth in middle-income
countries with significant trade links
to Europe. With global commodity
prices projected to remain soft
and domestic climatic conditions
improving, inflation is expected to
decline to around 8 percent in 2012,
and about 7 percent in 2013. The
recent surge in international cereal
prices is likely to exacerbate food
insecurity in some places, and could
be a threat to inflation if it intensifies.
World Inflation
According to the FAO food price Index
(FFPI), which measures the monthly 9
change in international prices of a
basket of food commodities, global
foods prices in November 2012 has
went down by 1.5 percent from the
 BIRRITU No 114
previous month and the lowest since
June 2012. This was mostly due to
declining meat and cereal prices.
FAO price index for cereal food
and meat products is down by 1.5
percent and 0.7 percent, respectively
from October 2012.
Euro area annual inflation was 2.6
percent in September 2012. A year
earlier the rate was 3.0 percent.
Monthly inflation was 0.7 percent
in September 2012. The main
components with the highest annual
rates in September 2012 were
transport (4.1 percent) and alcohol
and tobacco (4.0 percent), while the
lowest annual rates were observed
for communications (-3.3 percent),
education (0.5 percent), household
equipment and recreation and
culture (Both 1.1 percent).
Similarly, the year-on-year inflation
rate in United States increased for
a second month to 2.0 percent in
September 2012 compared to 1.7
percent for the previous month. This
was mostly the result of an increase in
the gasoline index, which rose to 7.0
percent in September after increasing
9.0 percent in August. However, in
the United Kingdom, year-on-year
CPI inflation rate slightly down to 2.2
percent in September 2012 from 2.5
percent during the preceding month.
10 The largest downward pressures
behind the change in the CPI rate
came from the housing and housing
service sector.
The monthly inflation rate in the emerging
economies such as China and India exhibited
different movement in November 2012. China’s
consumer price index grew to 2 percent in
November from October 1.7 percent. The
decline gives Beijing more room to cut interest
rates or boost spending to reverse the country’s
deepest slowdown sine the 2008 global crisis.
The food prices went up to 2.5 percent down
from the previous month’s 3.4 percent.
In contest, Indian inflation accelerated to
12-month high in November after the government
raised subsidized fuel prices, limiting room for an
interest-rate cut by the central bank to revive the
economy. The consumer price index marginally
rose to 9.9 percent in November 2012 as
compared to a year earlier, after climbing 9.75
percent in the previous month on account of a
sharp increase in price and beverage.
Inflation Development in East
Africa
Inflationary pressure in East African countries
showed continuous decline for the last seven to
eight moths except Sudan’s inflation rate stays
atop at 40 percent.
Tanzania’s year-on-year inflation rate slowed
for eleventh consecutive months in November
as food and non-alcoholic beverages declined.
The rate fell to 12.1 percent in November 2012
from 12.9 percent in October. Food and Non
alcoholic beverages inflation rate has decreased
to 13.7 in November 2012 from 14.9 percent
recorded in October 2012.
In Kenya, year-on-year inflation continued
to decelerate for twelfth straight month in
November 2012 to 3.25 percent from 4.41
percent in October 2012. The last time inflation
stood below 10 percent level was in February
2011 which stood at 6.54 percent. However, the
food and nonalcoholic drinks index increased by
0.29 percent between September and August,
due to continued price reductions in several
food products such as tomato, Milk, potatoes,
and maize.
Similarly, the annual headline inflation rate
in Uganda witnessed a seven month straight
slowdown in September to 5.4 percent from 11.9
percent recorded in August 2012. The reduction
was attributed to a decline in both core inflation
and food inflation which declined to 4.8 percent
and 6.3 percent from their respective rate 11.4
percent and 12.8 percent respectively.
Year on year inflation in Uganda rose for the first
time in eight month in November, quickening
to 4.9 percent from 4.5 percent after consumer
price index increased 0.5 percent month - on -
month.
Implications on the Ethiopian
Economy
Like the development in global food price,
domestic headline and food inflation in Ethiopia
witnessed a fall in November 2012. According to
FAO’s December 2011 crop prospect and food
situation report for 2012, crop prospects are
favorable in main cropping areas of Ethiopia.
The Construction of condominium and low cost
houses in conjunction with expansion of cement
factories have showed a slight decline in the
housing and construction prices,
which have the biggest share in non-
food component, and will help to
slow down non-food inflation.
Import and distribution of imported
food items such as wheat, sugar and
edible oil will narrow the gap between
demand and supply for major food
items and will have a great role in
stabilizing food inflation.
The slow down in the price of
exportable items such as coffee may
contribute to lower export growth in
contrast to the projected plan. The
ongoing austerity measures in some
advanced European countries due
to the growing public debt may also
affect our exports, remittance inflows
and loans and grants from these
countries.
Performance
of financial
Institutions
Financial stability and
soundness
All financial soundness indicators
have shown that the financial system
of the country is in good health.
In general, access to finance is
improving, but remained low. By
September 2012, commercial 11
bank branches numbered 1,257,
compared to 941 a year ago.
Accordingly, population per bank
branch has decreased from 85,016
 BIRRITU No 114
last year first quarter to 63,644 by
the end of September 2012. During
the period, the number of deposit
accounts and borrowers increased
from 5.5 million and 95,014 to 7.1
million and 112,793, respectively.
Banks continued to record high
profits. At the end of the fiscal year
2011/12, their average RoA and
RoC stood at 3.9% and 55.69%,
respectively.
Banks were also well capitalized. The
banking sector by end of June 2012
reported CAR of 13.41% which was
well above the regulatory requirement
of 8%. The quality of assets that the
banks carry in their balance sheets
was high as depicted by NPLs ratio of
1.36%.
Banking industry as a whole has been
adequately liquid with liquidity ratio of
26.66% compared to 20% statutory
requirements. Balance sheets of
banks are also expanding.
By end of November 2012, total
Deposit mobilized by commercial
banks increased by 29.4 percent on
annual basis and reached Birr 199.7
billion. Demand deposits covered
12 48.3 percent of the total deposit.
On the other hand, the share of time
deposit surged to 6.4 percent.
Loan collected by commercial banks including
DBE witnessed a 16.4 percent growth and
reached Birr 17.1 billion during the five months
of 2012/13. Thus, outstanding loans and
advances at the close of the period depicted a
14.8 percent annual increase.
All commercial banks including DBE disbursed
fresh loans to the tune of Birr 18.4 billion during
the five months of 2012/13, showing a 9.2
percent annual slowdown. At the same time
CBE’s share in total disbursement has reached
41.0 percent. The share of new loan disbursed to
public enterprises was 25.4 percent while that of
the private sector loan (including cooperatives)
stood at 74.6 percent.
The insurance industry is also sound and
stable. Particularly the general insurance business
has been profitable and attractive during fiscal
year 2011/12 largely because of introduction of
compulsory third party insurance. Total premium
production of the industry for the year ended
June 30, 2012 registered 53.7% growth over
the same period last year. Thus, net income for
the year also went up by 62.7% recording RoE
of 35% and RoA of 8%. Solvency ratio, major
indicator of the insurance industry’s health, as at
June 30, 2012, was 120% which exceeded the
acceptable standard of 115%.
However, indicators for net trade debtors and
liquidity were on negative side. Net trade debtors’
to equity ratio stood at 57%, which should have
not exceeded the 50% threshold while current
ratio of recorded 100% which is lower than
the standard rate of at least 150%. These two
 Insurance Companies’ Branches Regional Distribution as at January 31, 2013

No Company AA D.D Afar Amhara Tigray Oromia SNNPS Benishangul Somali Harar Gambela Total
Gumuz
1 EIC 11 1 1 6 2 9 11 1 1 2 1 46
2 NILE 11 1 - 4 1 2 2 - - - - 21
3 Nyala 12 1 - 3 1 2 1 - - - - 20
4 NICE 9 1 - 3 1 2 3 - - - - 19
5 Awash 20 1 - 1 1 7 2 - - - - 32
6 United 16 1 - 3 1 2 1 - - - - 24
7 NIB 14 1 - 3 1 2 1 - - - - 22
8 Africa 6 1 - 3 1 1 1 - - - - 13
9 Global 6 1 - - - 1 1 - - - - 10
10 Lion 9 - 2 1 1 1 - - - - 14
11 Oromia 11 1 - - - 6 1 - - - - 19
12 Abay 1 - - 2 - - - - - - - 3
13 Berhan 6 - - - - - - - - - - 6
14 Tsehay 5 - - - - - - - - - - 5
15 Ethio-Life 3 - - - - - - - - - - 3
& General
Total 140 10 1 30 10 35 25 1 1 3 1 257
% ge 54.5% 3.9% 0.4% 11.7% 3.9% 13.6% 9.7% 0.4% 0.4% 1.2% 0.4% 100%

1 for Ethio-Life
1 for NICE

13
 BIRRITU No 114

ratios call for closer regulation and
supervision of the industry. The NBE
has already addressed the issue of
growing net debtors by introducing
“no premium no cover” close
in the new Insurance Business
Proclamation No. 746/2012. The
stress in liquidity appears moderate
and manageable. Meanwhile, life
insurance business remained very
low and undeveloped.
Insurance branch to population
ratio as at June 30, 2012 improved
to 334,608 from 361,683 a year
earlier. At Birr 44.2 per capita,
insurance premium remained very
low and reflected in insurance
premium per GDP of only 0.58%.
Micro-finance sector was sound
in fiscal year ended June 2012.
As at June 30, 2012, the capital
adequacy ratio of the microfinance
sector stood at 37.3 % (well above
the minimum target of 12%) while
the NPLs ratio of at 3.3% was within
the target of <5%. MFIs are also
providing financial services to 2.9
million clients.
means of transaction. Thus NBE has provided
sufficient bank notes and coins in desired
denomination to meet the transaction demand
of the economy. Efforts are underway to
standardize checks, establish national switch
and encourage all banks to install core banking
system.
In respect to development in the
Treasury Bills market, during the five
months of the current fiscal year 2012/13, the
amount of T-bills offered to the weekly auction
market was Birr 48.5 billion, 37 percent lower
than the same period last year. However, the
demand for the T-bills went up by 40.5 percent
to Birr 48.7 billion. The amount of T-bills sold
reached Birr 48.7 billion, 51.4 percent higher
than last year same period.
On annual basis, outstanding T-bills went up by
65.6 percent to Birr 21.5 billion at the end of
November 2012, of which non-bank institutions
held 87 percent and commercial banks the
remaining 13 percent

The payments system has

been operating smoothly, yet cash
remained predominantly important
14
 Branch Net -Work for banking sector By Region
As at January 2013
Region
Ben Dire Soutern Bank’s
No Name of
Gam- Shan- Hare- Afare So- Dewa Ti- NN Ama- AA Oro- Total Share
Bank
bela gul rie malia graye hara mia
1 Public banks
1.1 Commercial 3 6 3 8 16 6 55 102 124 132 220 675 44.15
Bank of
Ethiopia
1.2 Develop- 1 1 2 7 5 1 15 32 2.09
ment Bank of
Ethiopia
1.3 Constriction 1 2 1 1 2 2 5 10 14 34 19 91 5.95
& Busines
Bank
Sub Total 4 8 5 9 18 9 62 119 143 167 254 798 52.19
2 Private banks
2.1 Awash 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 2 56 27 98 6.41
International
bank
2.2 Dashen Bank 1 8 15 49 13 94 6.15
2.3 Bank of Abys- 1 2 1 3 7 12 32 9 67 4.38
sinia
2.4 Wegagen 1 1 2 3 10 2 8 33 7 67 4.38
Bank
2.5 United Bank 1 1 2 1 4 5 9 40 7 70 4.58
2.6 Nib Interna- 2 3 1 2 6 5 40 7 66 4.32
tional Bank
2.7 Coopera- 2 1 8 48 59 3.86
tive Bank of
Oromia
2.8 Lion Interna- 2 1 16 1 2 20 1 43 2.81
tional Bank
2.9 Oromia 1 1 15 33 50 3.27
International
Bank
2.10 Zemen Bank 1 4 2 7 0.46
2.11 Bunna 1 1 1 3 7 12 4 29 1.90
International
Bank
2.12 Berhan Inter- 1 2 3 9 5 20 1.32
nationl Bank
2.13 Abay Bank 1 1 1 4 1 25 9 2 44 2.88
2.14 Addis Inter- 1 6 1 8 0.52
national Bank
S.C.
2.15 Debub 6 2 1 9 0.59
Global Bank
S.C.
Sub Total 4 3 47 88 335 167 731 47.81
Grand Total 8 11 166 231 502 421 1529 100.00
Region’s 0.52 0.72 0.78 0.72 2.16 1.44 7.33 10.86 15.11 32.83 27.53 100
Share
15
Item Year
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Number of Banks 9 10 10 11 11 13 15 16 17
Number of Branches 358 390 421 495 562 636 680 973 1289
 BIRRITU No 114

The year 2012

The 114 issue of Birritu comes at the beginning of the New Year, 2013. so, obviously it
would be interesting to look back as to what happened in the past one year. The editors of
quarterly Birritu would like to share a few developments with our esteemed reaaders during
the year just ended.

A Year of Prosperity?
What do you think of the year 2012? In a general glimpse was it good, bad or in between?
Don’t forget to look back two or three years preceding 2012 before saying what you have
to say.

Please compare your answer with The Spectator, the U.K’s well known English Magazine
(Friday 21 Dec, 2012).

Why 2012 was the best year ever

Never in the history of the world has there been less hunger, less disease and more prosperity

It may not feel like it, but 2012 has been the greatest year in the
history of the world. That sounds like an extravagant claim, but it
is borne out by evidence. Never has there been less hunger, less
disease or more prosperity. The West remains in the economic
doldrums, but most developing countries are charging ahead,
and people are being lifted out of poverty at the fastest rate ever
recorded. The death toll inflicted by war and natural disasters is
also mercifully low. We are living in a golden age.

Ethiopian Airlines - Bringing the

Dreamliner to Africa
AFRICA’S booming
aviation industry reached
another landmark in
August when Ethiopian
16
Airlines became the first
carrier outside Japan to
operate the Boeing 787
Dreamliner (pictured), a
state-of-the-art passenger jet. The introduction of the 787 to African skies could transform the nature
of air travel across the continent—and even worldwide. (The Economist, 3rd September 2012)
As the first airline outside Japan to own Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Ethiopian Airlines has an
impressive business record despite the global economic crisis. Growing 20 to 30% a year
for the past seven years, the airlines’ strategic plan is to carry 18 million passengers a year
by 2025.(CNN, September 3, 2012)

Top banking scandals 2012

Standard Chartered scandal

The UK-based bank, Standard Chartered, has now paid a total of $674m (£419m) to US
regulators and authorities for illegally hiding transactions with Iran and other countries under
US sanctions.

The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS), one of the regulators that issued
the fines, said the bank laundered as much as $250bn (£161bn) for nearly a decade

The New York State DFS says Standard Chartered spent the best part of 10 years, from 2001
to 2010, hiding billions of Iranian financial deals.

The dollar transactions originated and terminated in European banks in the UK and the
Middle East, and were cleared through its New York branch, the complaint said.

In a statement following the fines, the bank said the US Treasury Department’s Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) found that only $133m worth of transactions were found to 17
be in violation of sanctions laws between 2001 and 2007, and that the bank had now carried
out a “comprehensive review and upgrade” of its compliance systems and procedures since
then.

BBC Business News 10 December 2012

 BIRRITU No 114
Barclays Libor scandal
Regulators in the US and UK fined
Barclays £290m ($450m) for
attempting to rig Libor and Euribor,
the interest rates at which banks
lend to each other, which underpin
trillions of pounds worth of financial
transactions.
Staff did this over a number of years,
trying to raise them for profit and
then, during the financial crisis,
lowering them to hide the level to
which Barclays was under financial
stress. (BBC News)
The LIBOR (London Inter-bank
Offered Rate) index is the most
18 important set of numbers in the
global financial system. Used as a
benchmark for interest rates around
the world, it’s assembled by asking a
panel of big banks to estimate what
it would cost them to borrow money
today, if they had to. Hundreds of trillions of
dollars in derivatives, corporate loans, and
mortgages are pegged to these rates. Yet we now
know that for years LIBOR rates were rigged.
Barclays has agreed to pay nearly half a billion
dollars to regulators for its manipulations, and a
host of other big banks are under investigation
for similar misdeeds. (Wikipedia The Free
Encyclopedia)
The LIBOR-rigging was likely not limited to
Barclays. The Economist reports that “as many
as 20 big banks have been named in various
investigations for lawsuits alleging that LIBOR
was rigged.” These include U.S. banks, such
as JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and
Citigroup; German financial institution Deutsche
Bank; the United Kingdom’s HSBC; and Royal
Bank of Scotland.
HSBC scandal
HSBC has confirmed it is to pay US authorities $1.9bn in a settlement, the largest paid in
such a case.
It was fined for money laundering activities tied to drug cartels in Mexico and terror-linked
groups in Saudi Arabia.

HSBC’s chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, has described the US money laundering scandal
as “shameful and embarrassing” as the bank revealed the episode would cost it at least
$700m (£444m).

Mr Gulliver’s apology followed a damning report by the US Senate that slammed HSBC for
letting clients shift funds from dangerous and secretive countries. The HSBC chief said the
$700m provision was the bank’s “best estimate” of the cost of the scandal, but admitted
the number could be “significantly larger”. (The Telegraph, Monday 24 December 2012)

The settlement is the third time in a decade that HSBC has been penalized for lax controls and
ordered by US authorities to better monitor suspicious transactions.

nny Jokes
Fu
Free Water
A man wanted to buy fire insurance for his wooden leg, so he asked around.
The first company offered $10000. The next offered $8000. However, the last one only of-
fered $1000. 19
The man was very curious, so he asked why it was so low.

The agent said, ‘You will have a ready supply of water near your wooden leg, so if you let it
get burnt it would be your own fault.’
 BIRRITU No 114

List of all winners from the African Banker Awards 2012

African Bank of the Year

Ecobank (ETI), Togo

African Banker of the Year

OlusegunAgbaje, Managing Director, Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria

Central Bank Governor of the Year

HE Mustapha KamelNabli, Central Bank Governor, Tunisia

Finance Minister of the Year

HE KerfallaYansané, Minister of Finance, Guinea

Best Regional Bank in Africa

Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco - North Africa
BGFI, Gabon - Central Africa
Bank of Kigali, Rwanda - East Africa
Access Bank, Nigeria - West Africa
BCI, Mozambique - Southern Africa

Best Retail Bank in Africa

Coris Bank International, Burkina Faso

Investment Bank of the Year

Renaissance Capital

Award for Innovation in Banking

Equity Bank, Kenya

Socially Responsible Bank of the Year

BMCE Bank Group, Morocco
20

Award for Financial Inclusion

BanquePopulaire, Morocco
 Deal of the Year
Jinchuan’s Acquisition of Metorex - Standard Bank Group

Bond Deal of the Year

Republic of Senegal: Sovereign Bond Issue - Standard Chartered Bank

Investment Fund/Private Equity Fund of the Year

Citadel Capital, Egypt

Lifetime Achievement Award

Arnold Ekpe, CEO, Ecobank (ETI), Togo

African Banker Icon

Dr EleniGabre-Mahdin, Founder and CEO, Ethiopia Commodities Exchange

The African Banker Awards are organized by African Banker magazine, IC Events and
Business in Africa Events. It is a landmark event that celebrates excellence and best practices
in African banking and finance.

ny J okes
Fun
Financial Planner

Someone told his three sons when he sent them to university:

‘I feel it’s my duty to provide you with the best possible education, and you
do not owe me anything for that. However, I want you to appreciate it; as
a token, please put $1,000 each of you into my coffin when I die.’ And so it
happened.

The sons became a doctor, a lawyer, and a financial planner, each very
successful financially.

When they had to see their father in the coffin one day, they remembered his
wish.

First it was the doctor who put ten $100 bills onto the chest of the deceased.
21
Than came the lawyer, who put a $1,000 bill there.

Finally, it was the heart-broken financial planner’s turn. He dipped into his
pocket, took out his cheque book, wrote a cheque for $3,000, put it into his
father’s coffin, and took the $2,000 cash.
 BIRRITU No 114
HOW WAS ETHIOPIA DOING IN 2012
Ethiopia December inflation
falls yr/yr, at lowest for 2012
ADDIS ABABA, Jan 9 (Reuters)
- Ethiopian inflation dropped in
December to 12.9 percent year-on-
year, its lowest rate of 2012, official
data showed.
The government had targeted single-
digit inflation in 2012, something it
now hopes to achieve this year.
Inflation, which has been billed by
the IMF as the country’s biggest
economic challenge, peaked at
36.3 percent last February, and
has steadily declined due to rising
agricultural output and government
subsidies on a number of food items.
Food price inflation fell to 11.8
percent year-on-year in December,
down from 13.4 percent in
November. The non-food inflation
rate also dropped to 14.6 percent
in December from 19.4 percent the
previous month.
The International Monetary Fund
has said inflation is the biggest
challenge facing policymakers in
the Horn of Africa country, which
has however registered one of the
world’s highest economic growth
rates for the last few years.
Ethiopia’s economy is expected
to maintain a growth rate of 11
percent in 2012/2013, the seventh
consecutive fiscal year of growth,
22 according to senior officials.
World Bank Group: Ethiopia Economic
Update – Overcoming Inflation,
Raising Competitiveness
ADDIS ABABA, December 13, 2012-Over the
past decade, the Ethiopian economy has been
growing at twice the rate of the Africa region,
averaging, 10.6 percent GDP growth per year
between 2004 and 2011 compared to 5.2
percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a
new report by the World Bank.
This impressive economic growth mainly
attributes to agricultural modernization, the
development of new export sectors, strong
global commodity demand, and government-
led development investments.
“Two and a half million people in Ethiopia have
been lifted out of poverty over the past five years
as a result of strong economic growth, bringing
the poverty rate down from 38.7 percent to 29.6
percent between 2004/05 and 2010/11”,says
Guang Zhe Chen, World Bank Country Director
for Ethiopia. “The Government target to reduce
poverty to 22.2 percent by 2014/15 is ambitious
but attainable.”
“Ethiopia follows a strategy of increasing exports
to facilitate growth. This is appropriate given
the limited size of the domestic market and it
is consistent with the development experience
of some of the recently successful countries,
particularly in East Asia”, says Michael Geiger,
the Bank’s Country Economist for Ethiopia and
one of the lead authors of the report. “Growth
of goods exports has mainly been driven by
volume growth across a variety of product
groups, implying that Ethiopia is increasingly
diversifying its export base.”
Ten African countries with high
consumption growth potential

Rank Country
1 Nigeria
2 Ethiopia
3 DRC
4 Kenya
5 Tanzania
6 Egypt
7 Sudan
8 Uganda
9 Burkina Faso
10 Mozambique

The increasing spending power of African
consumers has been covered extensively
by How we made it in Africa. Rising incomes
has attracted investment from many consumer-
facing multinationals such as supermarket
chains and mobile phone operators.
Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), in a recent report
entitled ‘Where to Invest in Africa’, says that
consumer goods companies should look at the
following factors when deciding where their
goods should go: population size; forecast
population growth rates; forecast per capita
GDP growth rates; and urbanization growth
rates.
The report notes that although
Africa is an important market
for consumer goods from a
macroeconomic perspective,
companies need to remember
that each country is different.
“Ethiopia, for instance, has a large
population and a decent market
size, but it would probably not offer
a concentration of high-income
earners for high-end retailers.”
Source: How we made it in Africa

By combining these variables into a single

measure, RMB has created a ranking index
of the countries with the best outlook for
consumer goods. “This index provides us
with a gauge of which countries rank the
23
highest when all four measures are taken into
account. Nigeria, Ethiopia, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Kenya and Tanzania have
the most favorable macroeconomic backdrops
for consumption growth.”
 BIRRITU No 114
A THING TO
LEARN
UK Bank Boss Urges
Bankers To Learn From
Olympic Athletes
U.K. bankers can “learn a thing or
two” about fair play and motivations
from the nation’s Olympic athletes
and volunteers, said Bank of England
Governor Sir Mervyn King , follow-
ing a series of high-profile financial
scandals that have tarnished the rep-
utation of Britain’s banking industry.
According to the country’s central
banker, in an op-ed piece for the
Mail, the success of the nation’s
Olympians, coupled with the pride of
the 10,000 volunteers at the games,
demonstrated that “motivation does
not come from financial incentives
alone,” but rather through “passion
and commitment” to prove them-
selves as the best.
The financial sector, as such, “has
done us all a disservice in promoting
the belief that massive financial com-
pensation is necessary to motivate
individual,” said King, who also cas-
tigated bankers for creating “the illu-
sion that it was possible to become a
millionaire overnight by buying and
selling pieces of paper.”
“Motivation is more than mere mon-
ey,” he said “Over the years, the peo-
ple who have impressed me most in
business have been those motivated
primarily by the desire to show that
24 their products are the best.”
“By being passionate about what they
produce, and the customers whom
they serve, they achieve success,
and, in so doing, they make money,
almost as a by-product. There is no substitute
for passion and commitment to one’s sport or
business,” King added.
The central banker’s statement come just as
the country continues to come to terms with the
most recent scandal involving Standard Char-
tered and an alleged $250 billion in financial
mis-dealings with the Iranian government.
Another British bank Barclays was also forced
to pay a $453 million fine for manipulating the
Libor interbank lending rates, while HSBC has
been implicated in a money-laundering scandal
for drug cartels and terrorist groups.
Consequently, King now believes that future
bank reforms must focus on changing bankers
mindsets from “making money in the short term”
to “building businesses to serve their customers’
interests over the longer term.”
“For many years, our financial sector sustained
the illusion that it was possible to become a mil-
lionaire overnight by buying and selling pieces
of paper. But we have seen how paper fortunes
in financial markets can disappear overnight.”
“Things need to change,” King said. “The Gov-
ernment’s plans to build a wall between banks’
risky trading on one side, and their lending to
businesses and families on the other, will help.
As will the injection of new competition into our
banking system,” he noted.
But despite these changes, the Bank of England
governor warned that the U.K. economy was still
struggling to recover from the global financial
crisis; and said that the Olympic Games could
not mask the “underlying economic situation we
face.”
Cont. to P31
የታክሲ ላይ ጥቅሶች
አሁን እርስዎ በሩን ዘልቀው ሲገቡ “አምላኬ ሆይ
በሰላም አውለኝ!” የሚል ጥቅስ ቢቀበልዎ ምን
ይሰማዎታል? ይቅርታ ግን የተለመደውን አሰልቺ
የጋዜጠኛ ቃለ-ምልልስ አስመሰልኩት አይደል?
ጥያቄዬ እንዴት ነው በጣም ቀሸመብዎት? እኔ
እንግዲህ ምን ላርግ? ከዚህ የተሻለ ሊመጣልኝ
አልቻለም!
የገቡት አንድ ፈሪያ እግዝሔር ያደረበት ወዳጅዎ
ቤት ወይም ቤተ አምልኮ አይደለም በአጭሩ
የገቡት ታክሲ ውስጥ ነው፡፡ እንደኔ ምልክት
ተግባርና አፍ አራምባና ቆቦ ከሆነባቸው ክስተቶች
መካከል የታክሲ አገልግሎትና በታክሲዎች ውስጥ
የተለጠፉ ጥቅሶችን የመሰለ እግርዎ እስኪነቃ
ቢጓዙ የሚገኝ አይመስለኝም፡፡ መስማማትም
አለመስማማትም የእርሶ ምርጫ ነው፡፡
የመልካም ጊዜ አጥብቆ ናፋቂና ሁሉም ነገር
መለወጥ ይችላል የሚለው ወይም የፈረንጅኛው
ሀሳብ Optimistic አቀንቃኝ ከሆኑም ምንአልባት
“ተመስገን መልካም ጊዜ መጣ” ሊሉ ይችላሉ፡፡
የከተማችን የታክሲ አገልግሎት ዝንተ አለሙን
አይሻሻልም ብለው የተቀበሉና እዚህም እዚያም
በጣም አልፎ አልፎ ለሚመለከቱት ጅማሮ
ምስጋናዎን ለመቸር የፈቀዱ አይነት ከሆኑም
“እነዚህስ አምላክ የባረካቸው ሳይሆኑ አይቀሩም”
ብለውም ይሆናል፡፡
ወገኖቼ አይደለም የጥሞና ጊዜ አግኝተው ቀንዎን
በመልካም ሁኔታ ለመጀመር ከአምላክዎ ጋር
ሊያወጉ ገና አስበው ሳይጨርሱ አይኖ ፈጦ
ይቀራል፡፡
ለሚኒባስ ታክሲው የተመደበ 12 ሰው ሞልቷል።
እርሶም የሚቸኩሉበትና ከከተማ አውቶብስ
ወይም ሎንችና ይልቅ ታክሲ የፈለጉበት ምክንያት
አለዎት፡፡ አዎዋ! እንደኔና እርስዎ አይነቱ እግረኛ
ከተሜ በዚህን ጊዜ ከታክሲ የፈጠነ
አገልግሎት ምን አለ? ምን አልባትም
ሰሞኑን እየረፈደብዎ ከአለቃዎ ጋር
ግጭት ውስጥ ገብተውም ሊሆን
ይችላል፡፡ እናም በርሶ ዘንድ “ሎጂካል”
የሆነው ወይም ተጠባቂ ጉዳይ
የታክሲው ጉዞ መጀመር ነው። ታዲያ
ምን ይሆናል ጢም ብሎ የሞላውን
ታክሲ ወያለ ሆዬ “የሞላ አንድ ሰው”
--- “የሞላ አንድ ሰው” ---- እያለ
መጠለዝ ይዟል፡፡ በዛው ልክ የእርሶ
ትዕግስት እየተሟጠጠ ጫፍ ደርሷል፡፡
አንድ ባልንጀራዬ እንደሚለው የታክሲ
ሾፌርና ረዳት መቼም ቢሆን መልካም
ሊሆኑ አይችሉም፡፡ ይህን የባልንጀራዬን
ከምን የተገኘህ ሰሌጥ...... አይነት
አባባል ብዙ ጊዜ ስቃወም ቆይቻለሁ።
እርግጥ ነው አሁን ግን በዘውትር
የታክሲ ተጠቃሚነቴ ባስተዋልኩት
የጓደኛዬ ጎራ ለመቀላቀል አፋፍ ላይ
የምገኝ ዜጋ ሆኛለሁ፡፡ አሁን ወደ ወጌ
ልመለስ፡-
የፊተኞቹ መቀመጫ ሁለት ሰዎች
እንደታዛዥ የቤት እንስሳ ጠጋ ጠጋ
ብለው ሶስተኛ የጉዞ ባልደረባ አበጁ።
ሁለተኛው ተለጣፊ ብቅ ብሎ ቀጠን
ቀጠን ያሉ ተሳፋሪዎች ያሉበትን
መቀመጫ ለማየት አማተረ፡፡ ተሳፋሪው
ቶሎ ባለመግባቱ የተበሳጨው ወያላ
25
ከኋላው መጥቶ ገፋ ገፋ እያደረገው
በብስጭት “ሰዓት የለንም ለምን ቶሎ
ቶሎ አንገባም!” የሚል ስሞታ አይሉት
ተግሳጽ ወይ ማሳሰቢያ ሰንዝሮ ወደ
 BIRRITU No 114
ንረታና ጩኸቱ ተመለሰ፡፡
ከቆይታ በኋላ ተመልሶ አንገቱን
አስግጎ ቢመለከት በሁለተኛው ወንበር
ዳር ላይ የተቀመጡ ባለ ሁለት ፀጉር
ለምድር ለሰማይ የከበዱ አዛውንት
ምንም የመጠጋት ምልክት አላሳዩም።
ረዳት ሆዬ በግልምጫ ከላይ ታች
ካወራረዳቸው በኋላ አባቴ------ጋሼ
---- ብቻ ምንም ቅጥያ ሳያበጅ ------
በእጁም ጭምር ምልክት እያሳየ “ትንሽ
እልፍ እልፍ በሉላቸው!” ብሎ ትዕዛዙ
ያለአንዳች ተቃውሞ እንደሚፈጸምለት
የጦር አዛዥ እየተንጎማለለና ታክሲዋን
በጥፊ እየጠለዘ መጣራቱን ቀጠለ፡፡
አዲሱ ተሳፋሪም ከጥቂት ማማተር
በኋላ ጠጋ እንደማይባልለት ሲያውቅ
ከመኪናው ወለል ከጎማ ኮፈን ላይ
ተቀመጠ፡፡
ረዳቱ ሶስተኛውን ትርፍ ተሳፋሪ ከብዙ
ታክሲዎች ጋር ተናንቆ ልክ በድመት
እንደተያዘች አይጥ ማጅራቱን
ይዞ እየገፋፋ አመጣ፡፡ ሁለተኛው
ወንበር ላይ አሁንም ሁለት ሰው
ብቻ ያየው ረዳት በንዴት አይኑን
አያጉረጠረጠ -ይቅርታ ለካ ጠዋት
ነው ገና አልቃመም፡፡ የደፈረሰ አይኑን
እየጎለጎለ “አንተ ሰውዬ ወይ ጠጋ በል
ወይ ውረድልኝ! እረፍዶብኛል!” ሲል
ጮኸ፡፡
ማንም የደነገጠ የተገረመ ተሳፋሪ
የለም፡፡ ቢያንስ ቢያንስ የምመለከታቸው
ፊቶች ይህን አያሳዩም፡፡ ”ጎበዝ
ስንለምደው ጊዜ በቃ መገረሙም
መደነቁም ከፊታችን መታየቱ ቀረ
26 ማለት ነው? ”ይገርማል!” ለነገሩ
አንተስ አትሉኝም? ፊቴ ምን
እንደሚያሳይ አላውቅም ውስጤ ግን
ኩምትርትር ነው ያለው።
ወገኖች ግርም ድንቅ የሚል ነገር እኮ ነው፡፡
”አንተ እንዴት አባክ ብትጠግብ ነው ....... አባትህ
...አያትህ አይሆኑም!” የሚለውስ አይነት ተግሳጽ
አይደለም በእንዲህ አይነት ቦታ በምንተዋወቅበትም
የመኖሪያ አካባቢ ከቀረ መቼም ታውቁታላችሁ
ብዙ ዘመን ሆኖታል፡፡ ለኛ የሰፈሩ ሰው ሁሉ
አባት ስናጠፋ ሲያየን ተቆጪና ቀጪ ሆኖን
ላደግነው መቼም ......... ምን ማለት እንዳለብኝ
አላውቅም። ግን እንዲያው በፈጣሪ ከመቼው
ቢለመድ ነው ለማስተዛዘን ያህል እንኴ ከንፈር
መምጠጥ፣ በፊታችን ላይ መገረምና ሀዘን መነበብ
ያልቻለው?
አዛውንቱ በንዴት ደም ስራቸው ተገታተረ።
የሆነ ነገር ለማለትም አፋቸውን ከፈቱ ግን
አልወጣ አላቸው፡፡ በታክሲው ውስጥ በጉልበትም
በእድሜም ረዳቱን የሚያክሉ ወጣቶች አሉ።
እርግጠኛ ነኝ አዛውንቱ በዱላም ይሁን በተግሳጽ
ይህን ባለጌ ውላጅ ልክ የሚያስገባላቸው
በጣም ፈልገዋል፡፡ በአይናቸውም ቃኘት ቃኘት
ማድረጋቸው አልቀረም፡፡ ምኞቴ” ፈጽሙ! አንጀቴ”
አርሱልኝ! በሚል አስተያየት፡፡ ለእንዲህ አይነቱ
ምላሽ የተዘጋጀ ግን ማንም የለም! እንዲያውም
ከሚንኮራኮረው ሬድዮ የሚወጣውን የስፖርት
ዘገባ ለማዳመጥ አብዛኛው ሰው ጆሮውን ቀስሯል።
ታክሲው እያቃሰተ ጉዞውን ቀጥሏል፡፡ ዝግመቱ
ከእርጅና ወይ የጠዋቱ ቆፈን ቶሎ አላሞቅ
ብሎት እንደሆን አይታወቅም። አንዲት በንግግሯ
ሞልቀቅ የምትል ኮረዳና አጃቢዋ ወጣት ”ወራጅ!
ወራጅ አለ! ወራጅ አለ አቁም!” የሚል ድምጽ
አሰሙ፡፡ መጀመሪያ ማስታወስ ቀጥሎ የቁጣና
በመጨረሻም ቁጣና ትዕዛዝ በተቀላቀለበት
ድምጽ፡፡ ታክሲዋ እንበል ወይ ሾፌሩ ለዚህ ጥሪ
ታዛዥነታቸውን አሳይተዋል፡፡ ፍሬኑን ጭምቅ
በማድረግና ውስጥ ያለውን ቀሪ ተሳፋሪ ወዲህና
ወዲያ በማላተም፡፡
ወንድዬው እየወረደ ሂሳብ ሰጠና በኩራት
እየተንጎማለለ ለመልስ እጁን ዘረጋ፡፡ በኩርፊያ
ለምቦጩን የጣለው እረዳት የሆነ ነገር
እያጉመተመተ መልሱን አንድ ሁለት ብሎ
አስረከበና ወደታክሲው ሲገባ በንዴት “ምን
ያልተጠራ ቦታ እየገቡ ባዶዬን ሊያስኬዱኝ
ነው “ በማለት ማጉመትመቱን ወደ ሀይለ ቃል
ለወጠው። ወጣቶቹ አይሰሙትማ፡፡ ሳቄ ቢመጣም
በትንሹ ፈገግ አልኩ፡፡ ጅብ ከሄደ...
አሁን ደግሞ አዛውንቱ እጅጉን ማዘናቸው
አይቀርም። “ምን አለበት ከዚህ ሁሉ ተፈሪነት
ትንሹን እንኴ ለኔ ቢያውለው “በማለት
በወጣቱ ሳይቀኑም አልቀሩም፡፡ “በእኛ ጊዜ
ቢሆን ባልወልደውም ልጄ ነው ጥቃቴ ጥቃቱ
ይሆን ነበር፡፡ ይህን ስለሚያውቅ ይህ ባለጌም
ከጅምሩ አይዘረጥጠኝም ነበር፡፡ “ለመሆኑ ይህን
የአዛውንትነት መብትና ስጦታዬን መቼ፣
እንደምንስ ተቀማሁ? በጉብዝናዬ ወራት
ለታላላቆቼ በልግስና የሰጠሁትን በመቀበያዬ
ወቅት እንደምን አጣሁት?“ በሀዘን በመገረም
ትክዝ ብለዋል፡፡
ዝቅተኛው ክፍያ የሚጠናቀቅበት ፌርማታ
እየተቃረብን ነው፡፡ “ወራጆች እዚህ ውረዱ
አልሻገርም!” የሚል ቀጭን ትዕዛዝ ከጉዞ
መሀንዲሳችን ተላለፈ፡፡ እስካሁን ድምጹ
ያልተሰማው ፓይለትም መሪውን እንደያዘ ወደኋላ
በመዞር ትዕዛዙን በአይኑ ደገመው፡፡
በዚህን ጊዜ ከመጨረሻ ወንበር ጥግ የተቀመጠ
ወጣት “ማነው ያለው ? ወደህ ነው ትሻገራለህ!”
አይኑን እንዳፈጠጠ አምቧረቀበት፡፡ የታክሲው
ረዳት የተናጋሪውን ማንነት ለማረጋገጥ ቀና
ብሎ ከመመልከት በቀር ምንም አይነት ተቃውሞ
አላሰማም፡፡ በሩን በሀይል በመዝጋት ብቻ
ብስጭቱን ገለጸ፡፡ የሚኒባሱ ባለቤት እንደው
የሉም፡፡ ሾፌሩም እንደሱ ተቀጣሪ ነው፡፡ ማን
ለንብረቱ ይቆረቆራል፡፡ በቀን ለስንትና ስንት
ጊዜ ታክሲዋ እስክትነቃነቅ በሩን በሀይል እየዘጋ
በማይደፈሩ ሰዎች ምትክ በታክሲዋ በር ላይ
ንዴቱን መወጣት ይችላል፡፡
ታክሲው ተሻግሮ ሲቆም የወረዱት ግን ሶስት
ሰዎች ናቸው፡፡ ሁለቱ ሰዎች የነገን እንጃ እንጂ
ለዛሬ ዕድሜ ለዚህ “ብርቱ” ወጣት
ገንዘባቸው የሚወስዳቸው ቦታ ድረስ
መሄድ ችለዋል፡፡ ነገር ግን ሌላ ጊዜ
በሀይለኛ ፀሀይ ወይ ዝናብ ምንም
ማድረግ አይችሉም፡፡ ብሶታቸውን
ለላይኛው አምላክ እየላኩ እፈለጉበት
ሳይሆን እታዘዙበት ቦታ መውረድ
ነው፡፡ ለመሆኑ ”አዛዦቻች እነማን
አለቆቻችንስ ስንት ናቸው? ይህን
ሁሉ እልቅናስ ማን ሰጣቸው?” በጣም
አይገርምም? እኛው እራሳችን ነን እኮ!
ምክንያታዊ ባልሆነ ፍርሀታችን! ገደብ
በሌለው ትዕግስታችን፡፡
ታክሲዋ አሁንም እያቃሰተች ትንሽ
ሄዳ ከፊታችን ካለች ቤተ ክርስቲያን
ፊት ለፊት ስትደርስ አንዲት ጠና ያሉ
ሴት በፍርሀት “ወራጅ!” የሚል ድምጽ
አሰሙ፡፡ የተቀረነው ተሳፋሪዎች
ከሳቸው ጥሪ ብዙም ያልበረታ ድምፅ
በማውጣት ባንተባበራቸው ፈፅሞ
ባልተሰሙ ነበር፡፡
ጋሼ ረዳት ይህን የሚታገሰው
አይደለም፡፡ ታክሲው ገና 100 ሜትር
እንኴ አልሄደም፡፡ በፍጥነት ዞር
ብሎ አሁን “ቆሞ አልነበረም ለምን
አይወርዱም ነበር?” ሲል ተነጫነጨ።
እርግጠኛ ነኝ በዚህ የተሻሻለ የረዳቱ
ተግሳጽ ልክ እንደኔ ሁሉም ተሳፋሪ
ደስ ተሰኝቷል፡፡
“ልጄ የምወርደው እዚህ ነው ምን
ላድርግ ይደክመኛላ” እያሉ መውረድ
ሲጀምሩ ግን በቅጽበት መሳሳታችን
ገባን። የአዛውንቷ ልምምጫ የልብ
ልብ የሰጠው ጌታው ረዳት ለሌሎች
የተሰማ በማይመስል ድምጽ “ የራስሽ 27
ጉዳይ ነው!” ብሎ እርፍ፡፡ አይኑና
ቀልቡ አልፎ ሄዶ ሁለት ተሳፋሪዎችን
በቀማው ነጭ ሚኒባስ ላይ ነው፡፡
አዛውንቷም የመጨረሻውን ንግግር
 BIRRITU No 114

ያዳመጡ አይመስሉም፡፡ በልምምጥ ማን ያውቃል ምን አልባትም በመሰረታዊ

አይነት አይን አይኑን እያዩ ከታክሲው የአገልግሎት አሰጣጥ ሥነ-ምግባር ሰልጥኖ
ወረዱ፡፡ ወረቀት ያልያዘ ሾፌርም ሆነ ረዳት በመስኩ
በዚህን ጊዜ “አነጋገርህ አስተዳደግህን እንዳይሰማሩ የሚከለክል ሥርዓትም ሊኖረን
ይነግረናል” የሚለውን ከሾፉሩ ጎን ይችላል። አንድ ቀን አንድ ቀን ........ የኔ ምርጫ
ባለው መቀመጫ ትይዩ የተለጠፈ ሌላ ግን ይህ ሁሉ ቀርቶብን የከተማ ባቡር ..........
ጥቅስ እያነበብኩ ነበር፡፡ ከቶ ይህን በቁጭት የነከስኩት ከንፈሬ አመመኝ፡፡ ኧረ
ጥቅስ የፃፈው ማን ይሆን? ለማንስ እንደውም ደማ መሰለኝ፡፡ ምክንያቱም ወገኖቼ
ይሆን የተፃፈው? ዕውን ይህ ረዳትና ለዚህ ሁሉ እንግልት የዳረገን እኮ እጥረት ነው፡፡
ባልደረባው ሾፌር አሳዳጊ በድሏቸው የመጨረሻ መውረጃችን ላይ ደርሰናል፡፡
ይሆን? ወይስ ህብረተሰቡ ነው መረን አጠገቤ የነበረ ጎልማሳ መልስ ለመቀበል ዕጁን
ለቆ ያበላሻቸው? በመገረም እያወጣሁ ዘርግቶ አጎንብሶ እየወረደ ነው፡፡ ወዲያው ግን
እያወረድሁ ጉዞዬን ቀጠልኩ፡፡ ጭቅጭቅ ተፈጠረ፡፡ ወያላ ሰጥቼሀለው ሰውዬው
በይዘታቸው ሀይማኖታዊም አለማዊም አልተቀበልኩም ...... እሰጥ አገባው ቀጠለ፡፡
የሆነ በርካታ ጥቅሶች በአሁኑ ጊዜ ጋሼ ሾፌር ከመቀመጫው ሳይነሳ ማስጠንቀቂያ
በየታክሲው ተለጥፎ ማየት የተለመደ የሚመስሉ ቃላትን ለተሳፋሪው ሰነዘረ፡፡ ስምምነት
ነው፡፡ ይህ በፍጹም የሚያከራክር ግን ሊመጣ አልቻለም፡፡ እኔም በግርግሩ መውጫ
አይደለም፡፡ ምን አልባት በአንድ ታክሲ በማጣቴ ተመልሼ ከቅርብ ካለው መቀመጫ አረፍ
ውስጥ በአማካኝ ምን ያህል ጥቅሶች ለማለት ተገደድኩ፡፡ የሰነዘራቸው ማስጠንቀቂያዎች
ይገኛሉ የሚለው ብቻ ሊያወያየን አላማቸውን ያልመቱለት ሾፌር አመጣጡ ለምን
ይችላል፡፡ አስቂኝ የሚሆነው ግን እንደሆነ በግልጽ በሚያሳይ ሁኔታ ከመኪናው
ስንት እጁ በትንሹ እንኴ ይከበራል? ዘሎ ወረደ፡፡ በእጁ ሌባ ጐማ የሚባል ከዋናው
የሚለው ጥያቄ ነው፡፡ ያለ ምንም አገልግሎቱ ጐን ለጐን ለዚህ አይነቱ ተግባር
ጥናት የምላችሁ ነገር ቢኖር በታክሲ የሚውል ነገርም ይዟል፡፡ በዚህ ቅጽበት ንዴቱን
ውስጥ ከልብ በመነጨ ፍቅር መቆጣጠር ያልቻለው ተሳፋሪ የወያላውን ግራ
የሚከበሩት የማንቼ፣ የአርሰናል፣ ጉንጭ በጥፊ አላጋው፡፡ ያለምንም ማጋነን ጩኸቱ
የባርሳና የማድሪድ ስቲከሮች ብቻ እኔው የተመታሁ ያህል ተሰማኝ፡፡ በነገርኴችሁ
ናቸው፡፡ ፍጥነት የተፈናጠረው ሾፌርም በፊልም ጥበብ
አባባል-በስሎው ሞሽን ፍጥነቱን ቀንሶ በተገላቢጦሽ
ምን ያህል የተሳካ መሆኑ በሳይንስ
ወያላውን እየተሳደበና እየተራገመ ወደጸቡ ቦታ
(በኛ ሀገር አሰራር) ማለት ነው
ተጠጋ፡፡
ባይረጋገጥም ባመታ የቴክኒክ
ምርመራ ወቅት የፎረሸ ታክሲ እኮ የሰውዬው (ጥፊ ተማቺው ማለት ነው) ቁመት፣
ስምሪት አይፈቀድለትም፡፡ ይህንና ውፍረት እና ጡንቻ ከወያላው ብዙ አይበልጥም።
ተያያዥ ዋና ዋና የአገልግሎት ዘርፉን ሾፌሩ ሲጨመር ደግሞ ተሳፋሪውን ለማሸነፍና
28 ጉዳዩች ያሳካን እለት ተፈፃሚነት ለመዘረር ከበቂ በላይ ጉልበትና አቅም
የሌላቸው ጥቅሶች መለጠፍ ክልክል በአሳፋሪዎቻችን ዘንድ አለ፡፡ ይሁንና ጥፊውን
ነው!” የሚል መመሪያ እናሰፈጽም በጉንተላ እንኴ ለመመለስ ምንም እንቅስቃሴ
ይሆናል። የዛ ሰው ይበለን፡፡ አላደረጉም፡፡

ወደ ገጽ 32 ዞሯል
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen
name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He achieved great success as a
writer and public speaker. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers, and he
was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European Royalty.

Here we tip you with some of Mark Twain’s Quotes. Hope you will enjoy them as they are
very closely representing our daily life:

Today, Nothing, Happen

Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today.

Anything, Anger, Harm

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything
on which it is.

Yourself, Find, Side

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

Courage, Fear, Absence

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

Person, Over, Read

A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.
29
Truth, Anything, Remember
If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.
 BIRRITU No 114

Truth, Stranger, Fiction

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities;
Truth isn’t.

Done, Giving, Smoking

Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands
of times.

Kindness, Language, Hear

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Liar, Himself, Truthful

A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.

Country, Government, Deserves

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.

y J o kes
Funn
A Banker Decided to Get his First Tailor Made Suit

A young banker decided to get his first tailor made suit. So he went to
the finest tailor in town and got measured for a suit. A week later he
went in for his first fitting. He put on the suit and he looked stunning,
he felt that in this suit he can do business.

As he was preening himself in front of the mirror he reached down

to put his hands in the pockets and to his surprise he noticed that
there were no pockets. He mentioned this to the tailor who asked him,
“Didn’t you tell me you were a banker?
The young man answered, Yes, I did.
30
To this the tailor said, Who ever heard of a banker with his hands in
his own pockets?
 A Thing to... Cont. from P24

“At home, unlike the Olympians who have thrilled us, our economy is not at full fitness right
now,” said King. “But if we have learnt anything from the past fortnight, it is that commit-
ment and hard work over a long period are necessary for eventual success.”

“Competition benefits us all – in the world trading system and our own economy as well
as in sport. Now is the time to start training for the economic marathon – and to follow the
example of Team GB in our everyday lives.”

Source: Economy Watch NL 13 August 2012

y J o kes
Funn

A Funny Way To Find You Have Lost Your Job

A fire alarm, in a large office building, rang at 4pm when almost all
of the company’s 500 employees were at work. As usual in such
circumstances the entire office was evacuated within 3 minutes and
every employee gathered outside. Nothing happened for ten minutes
or so and there was no evidence of a fire.

Then the firms Security Officer made an announcement:

‘Dear employees,

With melting heart I am making this announcement that for many

of you will be your last fire evacuation drill. Due to the recession
the company are laying off almost fifty percent of staff. When you
move back into the building some of you will discover that your
swipe pass card will no longer give you access to the office. If you
are among those laid off, go home and all your belongings will be
couriered to you tomorrow. The management took this approach
to save on overloading the email system with layoff notifications
and goodbye messages and also to avoid any violent outbursts
inside the office. Hope you have a nice career ahead ... please move 31
forward and try your swipe card.’
 BIRRITU No 114
የታክሲ ላይ ... ከገጽ 28 የዞረ
አልመሰለኝም፡፡ በቃ በሌላ በሌላው ግን መበርታት
አሁን ደግሞ መገረምና መደመሙ
የግድ ነው።
ውስጤን ይበላው ያዘ፡፡ ይህ
ጠይም ፊቱ ጥቁር ደም መስሎ ያ ብርታት ደግሞ ከአንድ እርምጃ ይጀመራል።
የተጋደመው ወያላ የቅድሙ ወያላ አዛውንቶቻችን በየታክሲው ውስጥ መዘለፍ
ራሱ ነው? ይሄ ፊቴ የቆመው የለባቸውም! ሴት እህቶቻችን የግልምጫና
ከጥቂት ደቂቃዎች በፊት አዛውንቱን የጉንተላ ሰለባ ሊሆኑም አይገባም! ህፃናት፣
ሲዘልፍ አዛውነቷን ሲያሽቆጠቁጥ ነፍሰጡሮችና ሌሎች ልዩ እንክብካቤ የሚያሻቸው
የነበረው ወያላ እራሱ ነው? ይሄስ ወገኖቻችንም ተገቢውን የታክሲ አገልግሎት
በምን አገባኝ አይነት እጁን አጣምሮ እንዲያገኙ ማድረግ ይገባናል! በያንዳንዱ ታክሲ
የቆመው ያ በማን አለብኝነት ከመሪ ውስጥ ደግሞ ለዚህ ጉዳይ የሚውል ፖሊስና ደንብ
ኋላ ተኮፍሶ ትዕዛዞችን ሲያዥጎደጉድ አስከባሪ ማቆም ሀገሪቱ አይቻላትም፡፡ ለዚያውስ
የነበረ ወያላውን ከመገሰጽ ይልቅ ምን ያደርጉልናል፡፡ በውጪ የተሰጣቸውን ተግባር
ሲያበረታታና ሲደግፍ የነበረ ሾፌር እንኴ በአግባቡ ቢያከናውኑ ምንኛ......... ለነገሩ
ነው? በቃ የነሱ ጅግና የነሱ ንግስና ይህንንም ተውት፡፡ ብዙ እየተባለለት አይደል፣
በኛ ፍርሀት ብቻ የተገኘ ነው ማለት እኛም ገና ብዙ እንልበታለን፡፡ ስለታክሲ ተራ
ነው? አስከባሪም ስለትራፊክ ፖሊስም ማለቴ ነው።

ከቶ ምን ይሆን ሚስጥሩ? በርግጥ ስለዚህ በዛች በታክሲዋ ውስጥ ያለነው እኛ 12

ራሳችንን መርዳት፣ ዕርስ በርሳችን ተሳፋሪዎች ራሳችን! ትራፊክ በሌለበት ሰአት
መረዳዳትና ባህላዊ ወጎቻችንን ደግሞ እኮ የዚህን እጥፍ ልንሆን ምንም አይቀረን
ማስከበር ያቃተንን እኛን ማን አይደል? አዎ! የምናስተውለውን ይህን መሰሉን
እየረዳን ይሆን .... ትልልቁን ጉዳይ ብልሹ ሥነምግባር እንቃወም! ፈፃሚዎቹንም
ትተን ይህን የመሰሉትን ጉዳዮች ሀይ አንበል! ድርጊቱን መላልሰን ስናደርገው
በራሳችን የመፈጸም ትንሽ ድፍረትና ፈፃሚዎቹም ይደነግጣሉ ትክክለኛ ብለው ከያዙት
ብዙ ፈቃደኝነት ሊኖረን አይገባም! የስህተት መንገድም ሳይወዱ በግድ ይመለሳሉ፡፡
አዛውንቱ ፈንጠር ብለው በትዝብት ለዚህች የመጀመሪያ ርምጃ ድፍረት ይሆነን ዘንድ
ሁሉንም እያስተዋሉ ነበር፡፡ ደግሞ አንድ ሀቅ ልወርውርላችሁ፡፡ ይኸውላችሁ
እባካችሁ ወገኖቼ እባካችሁ!! ታክሲው በኛ ውስጥ ያለ ፍርሀት እኮ ሌሎችም ውስጥ
ውስጥ አልተለጠፈም ግን ይሄ የታክሲ በጥቂት በጥቂቱ እንዳለ ነጋሪ የማያስፈልገው
ጓደኛችን እንዳደረገው አይነት ነገር የተረጋገጠ ጉዳይ ነው፡፡ እስቲ ይህ አይነቱን
በመጽሀፉ የሆነ ክፍል በደንብ ተጥፎ አጉራ የዘለለ ጋጠወጥነት ተው! ሃይ! ለማለት
ይገኛል፡፡ ታክሲዎቹ ራሳቸውም ቢሆኑ እንሞክር፡፡ ያን ጊዜ የእኛ ድፍረት ወጣ
ለጥፈውታል ለአሁን የመጽሐፉን ማለትም አይደለ? በተፈጥሮ ህግ መሰረት የነሱ
እርግጠኛ ክፍልና ቁጥሩን ማስታወስ ፍራቻ ደግሞ መታየት ይጀምራል፡፡ መከባበር
አልተቻለኝም፡፡ ስለንባቡ መኖር ግን የተሰኘችው የሰለጠነች ጽንሰ ሀሳብ ታዲያ
32 በተራዋ መንሰራፋት ትጀምራለች። ግድ የለም
እርግጠኛ ነኝ።”እርዱኝ እረዳችኋለሁ”
የሚለው ቃል አሁንም እላችኋለሁ እንጀምረው! ግዴላችሁም አልተሳሳትኩም የሆነ
በግልጽ ሰፍሮ ይገኛል፡፡ ጥፊና ለውጥ እናመጣለን! በነገራችን ላይ ፈሪ የናቱ
ርግጫውን እርሱ የጥቅሱ ባለቤትም ልጅ አይደለም! እናቱ በየታክሲው ላይ ስትዘለፍና
ቢሆን የሚወደውና የሚፈቅደው ስትንገላታ ማየት የሚፈቅድ ልጅ የለማ!!